Cuddly Troy

It's hard to get a good picture of my cuddly Troy but I was feeling like I really wanted to document it because he really melts my heart every day. Troy is such a sweetie every time I go to get him up from a nap or when he wakes up in the morning he always gives me a big hug. Also the other day we went to the store and I told Troy, "Stay by me." and he came back over and hugged my leg. He also is very likely to come on over and plop down on my lap while he looking at a toy or a book. At church he kept hugging this little boy that is his age, he also likes hugging on Hailey a lot! He is so lovey! He's also recently started kissing but he opens his mouth and sticks out his tongue, he thinks it's funny.
He's not talking much yet but we are working with him! I think he's definitely understanding a lot because he follows directions pretty well! He is such a sweet boy!

Labor Day

On Labor Day we decided to be spontaneous and drive to cloud croft. We thought it would be fun to see the natural spring and waterfall that josh went and saw on his Brothers and dad camp out. It was pretty cool to see. The nice thing is that you drive right up to the waterfall pretty much and it's a very short distance back to the spring. The water was very cold but the kids wanted to get a little wet any way. We lucked out by bring extra clothes. (Except for an extra shirt for Hailey so that's why we made her takes hers off.)

This is the spring. The picture definitely doesn't do it justice.




Here is the waterfall.
Hailey trying to cross the little bridge. They had some cute things up there like a few little bridges and in one spot in the little creek there was a hallowed out log someone had put in the creek for the water to flow through.


Troy was walking in the water but then he fell.

He didn't like that! It was super cold!


Josh just helped Troy touch the waterfall. We had to carry him pretty much the whole time but it was a super easy and super short hike! (If you could even call it a hike.)

Last month...

Last month we said good bye to Troy's intervention services because he is in normal range for all developmental skills. He qualified because he was a preemie. I was a little sad to see them go. He had the most wonderful therapists. This is Kim C. and Kim K. They helped so much!

PreSchool!

Hailey had her first day of preschool today! She was so excited! We are doing like a Joy school type of preschool so I'm doing it with other moms and we take turns on who's week it is to teach. I wanted to get a picture of the whole class but I'll wait until it's my week to teach. When I went to pick Hailey up she wanted to stay. She was telling me all the fun things she did as fast as she could. I think this will be a great experience for her! And for me too. (I'm excited to plan my week to teach and crafts and activities and everything else.)

These two pictures of her in the car I was trying to get her to not be so silly, so she looks kinda somber.

Grandma Hakes even stopped by to wish Hailey well on her first day of preschool! That was very sweet! (I didn't figure out my camera's issues until part way through so it was hard to get a good picture.) It was on manual focus but I didn't realize until I'd taken like ten pictures!
Grandma also reminded me that today was Nathan's first day of Preschool too! So fun to think about cousin Nathan getting ready and going to his first day of preschool on the same day!

Catching up on Summer

I have been wanting to do a end of summer post showing all of the fun things we did in our back yard. I also have to add that the back yard is Josh's baby and takes meticulous care of it and we reaped all the benefits! We loved playing in the grass just about every day. I'm not sure what we would have done if we had still been in our rental (2 summers ago) with lots of rocks in the back yard. That really helps me appreciate our yard.

There was mud. Lots and lots of mud. Hailey took it upon herself to cover Troy in it but usually not herself. Usually until he couldn't stand it.



Then there was water of course. We later got a inflatable pool but I'm always disappointed with those ones. They never last even a few months in summer so next year we'll try something else!




And what is summer without watermelon? It was fun to got out and eat watermelon in the grass and then swim or just play with the hose to get all the sticky off! It'll be a little tough in the winter when we'll miss out on some of these fun things!




This was probably one of there favorite things we did for the first time was playing in the sink! And of course we can do that anytime! They can get kinda messy but it was worth it.

Cousins

This week was pretty exciting with a visit from my cousin Connie and her family and also my cousin Heather and her family. We played with Connie and her family at Chuck E Cheese and also at her brother-in-laws wedding, Sam, which is also one of Josh's best buds since High School. Here is there picture!
Here is Connie's family at the temple!

Here is a picture of my cousin heather's kids and my kids and brothers. We went to white sands and it was a blast. I forgot how much I liked white sands. I felt myself getting giddy and anxious to get out as we were arriving.


Troy tasting the sand... not the best.
These two girls, also second cousins, Hailey and Hadley were instant best buds! They were randomly dressed the same and were following each other around every where and holding hands and playing! It was so fun and very cute!

Troy's first Haircut!

BEFORE...

AFTER...

I've actually been wanting to do this for some time now but I've been putting it off because some people have been saying don't cut it like my hubby and my mom. I have to admit that the curls were absolutely adorable but I really wanted to be able to do cute stuff with his hair for church and everything else. Now I can spike it or other fun stuff! Josh was bummed but I'd been think about it since Troy's Birthday so I was ready! I loved the way it turned out! I also gave Hailey a trim. I love the Hair cutting practice although I wish my victims were a little more patient.




Other funny Hailey news: Yesterday I told Hailey, "Finish your pizza then you can have a cookie." So she does and I get out the stuff for her. I leave for a minute and come back and she has not touch the cookie which I put that frosting on and all the frosting is gone. Her hands and face are pink. I ask her, "Did you eat all the frosting?" Hailey: "No" Now maybe she just wasn't paying attention but I still thought it was funny. I hope though that this "lie-ing" doesn't become more of a problem!